Vox Pop on BRT Television 25/12/2016 : Bayrak Radio and Television 53rd Year Anniversary

By Engin Dervişağa……

My show covering the 53rd year anniversary of BRTK was a privilege and honour to produce and featured old recordings as well as showing the modern day face of the Corporation.

Bayrak Radio started its life on 25th December 1963 in the garage of a house using car batteries which gave a coverage of 2.5km and was essential for the Turkish Cypriots to share news during the Cyprus troubles at that time and by February 1964 there was transmission to all of the island.  Bayrak Radio was formed into a Corporation in 1976 with equipment brought in from Turkey and its new identity was with radio and television.   In December 1977 BRTK made its first FM broadcast and in July 1979 the first colour TV broadcast.  Also in 1979 a powerful link was made between Lefkoşa and Ankara.

Another milestone for BRTK was the TV showing of the Declaration of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983 by Rauf Denktaş.

Today BRTK has become very strong with 2 TV channels and 6 radio stations and, with the benefit of the internet, programmes can be accessed by people all round the world.

For this very special  and memorable show I took the opportunity of interviewing some of my friends and colleagues  who work for BRTK.

Firstly I spoke to Denise Phillips who joined BRTK in 1996 and is our Radio Angel here on Bayrak International Radio.

She has two radio programmes, a morning show for which listeners send requests for songs and also dedications on the   “Radio Angel with Denise Phillips” which is on air 7 days a week and also “The Main Event” in which which she interviews guests about aspects of their life and experiences which is broadcast twice a week..

Then I spoke to Fatoş Baykal who started with BRTK in 1989 in radio and then moved to TV.  Fatoş said she has seen a lot of changes over the years and nowadays everything is so much easier with modern technology and now she is concentrating again on making radio shows.

In between interviews there were many screenshots of BRTK both old and new which emphasises the progress which has been made by the Corporation since those early days with the huge building which now houses BRTK and the state of the art equipment being used.

Next to speak with me was Gűlin Sabri who joined BRTK in 1986 and her current programme is Diva on the Mike.  Gűlin who gives information about the songs and singers she selects for broadcasting on her shows

For 10 years Gűlin was a TV newscaster but she moved to radio as she felt she could be more creative in this field.

Lastly I spoke to Can Gazi who has been with BRTK for 21 years and he started as an English speaking DJ with a music telephone request program.  Of course everyone will appreciate how Can has moved on over the years and his current programmes include Northern Exposure, The Breakfast Show, Take Five, plus his TV show “A Cup of Conversation”.

Some years ago Can also did outside broadcast work with his Faces and Places show around North Cyprus.

This was a very special show for me and I enjoyed putting it together and speaking with some of the staff members of BRTK.   Going by the length of time a lot of the staff have worked for BRTK, I would think they are all very happy in their work and long may they continue to do so for the enjoyment of the listeners and viewers and I hope you enjoy the video review you can watch when you follow the link below.

My interview will be screened on  Sunday 25th December at 15.30 pm and it will be repeated on Tuesday 27th December at 18.30 pm so do tune in to join me on  my show, Vox Pop on BRT2 Television.

To go direct to BRT2 TV to watch these shows by live streaming on your PC at Cyprus local time click here  and select the BRT2 channel in the viewing screen.

If you wish you can also watch a number of my past Vox Pop shows which can be selected for viewing by clicking here

For Radio Lovers do also tune in and join me on BRT Radio on Saturday  at 19.00pm for my programme Top Twenty which is compiled by DJ Bora and this show is repeated on Sunday at 15.00pm. We are transmitting this on 6.150 MH/z. Short-wave, 87.8 and 105 FM Stereo.

You can also tune in to live streaming of this radio show on your PC by clicking here and select FM105 Bayrak International.

For those local readers who have interesting hobbies or interests who think it could make an interesting subject for my Vox Pop TV show, do please send me a message.